Advisory Committee Recommends Free Air Time for Politicians

(December 21, 1998) The Advisory Committee on Public Interest Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters issued a 178 page report on Friday, December 18, which made many recommendations, including one that TV broadcasters, as well as cable, satellite, radio, and other video and audio programmers, give free advertising time to politicians.

The Report provides "recommendations on how public interest obligations of television broadcasters ought to change in the new digital television era ..."  In particular, it recommends that "The television broadcasting industry should voluntarily provide 5 minutes each night for candidate-centered discourse in the thirty days before an election."   (Report, at page 56.)  Al Gore promptly stated that if the industry does not voluntarily do this, the FCC should mandate it.

The report also specifies that the 5 free minutes be between the hours of 5 PM and 11:35 PM.  It also recommends that "Blanket bans on the sale of air time to all state and local political candidates should be prohibited."  (At page 56.)

Moreover, the Advisory Committee recommends that these requirements be extended to other media.  "We further urge that this commitment, of five minutes for thirty nights, be adopted by cable, satellite, radio, and other video and audio programmers.   And finally, this should "begin in 2000."  (At page 59.)

The Advisory Committee was established in 1997 by Executive Order No.13038.   It is made up of twenty two members appointed by the President.  It is chaired by Leslie Moonves, President and CEO of CBS Television, and Norman Ornstein, of the American Enterprise Institute.  The members were selected from the broadcasting industry, interest groups, the computer industry, academia, and labor.

Vice President Al Gore issued a statement supporting the recommendation that broadcasters provide free air time.  He stated:

If broadcasters choose to reject the call for free time on a voluntary basis, we believe the Federal Communications Commission will have a duty to take appropriate action. For its part, Congress ought to help us move forward on this issue on a bipartisan basis -- and not continue to threaten the FCC with further legislative reprisals to tie its hands in this area.

The President and I continue to believe strongly that there should be mandatory, universal free time for candidate centered discourse. It is unfortunate that the opposition from a few members prevented the Committee from adopting such a recommendation unanimously.

The Report also addresses the issue of minorities and women in broadcast management.  

"The Advisory Committee also believes that hiring and promotion policies that result in significant representation of minorities and women in decision-making positions in broadcast management could tend to increase programming diversity.  While this effect may be difficult to prove or quantify, we believe that such policies (as well as policies facilitating station ownership by minorities and women) are important in their own right, apart from any direct impact on programming diversity." (At page 64.   Parentheses in original.)